Ruling the 'Roost'!

Always open to reinvention and never failing to rise to the occasion, the blues is being loved, lived and celebrated in the city like never before. Honouring that tradition, Mumbai’s unique roots blues festival, Simply the Blues comes to Bengaluru and brings with it the charming French blues band, Lil Red & The Roosters to Indigo Live Music Bar, today. We speak to Lil’ miss Red, Jennifer Milligan as she takes centre stage along with The Roosters – multi-award winning guitarist Pascal Fouquet and harmonicist, Thomas Troussier.

Their meeting and subsequently, them forming a band was all thanks to one serendipitous night in Paris. “On a weekend in Paris, my friends dragged me to a club for ‘rock dancing’. Having been a punk rocker, I imagined CBGBs and was surprised to find myself in a dungeon of Parisian bee-bop swingers dancing to The Drew Davies Rhythm Combo featuring Pascal Fouquet on guitar,” says Jennifer, who is fondly called Red, taking on her grandfather’s nickname which stuck due to his red hair. Well, to make a long French comedy short, “Let’s just say Pascal was hypnotised by my free-spirited dancing while I, weary of musicians, found him charming enough to take the risk, resulting in some memorable tunes,” she smiles. Their music has often been described as touching and refreshing with a dash of humour. “We create electric band blues in a roots blues format, our originals often bringing the 40s and 50s blues and rhythm and blues into the present day,” says the voice behind their tracks that are rooted in contemporary lyrics.

Counting artistes like T-Bone Walker, Big Mama Thornton and Ella Fitzgerald to BB King, Tom Waits and Kenny Burrell as their influences, it’s not just a tinge of their inspiration that you can probably expect at their gig. True blues fans will also recognise the washboard – a distinctive metal-ribbed percussion instrument which, when played right, lends the music a rattling, grating rhythm.

The trio lives by one rule – ‘Have bags, will travel’ and it’s this that’s seeing their debut tour to India. “I’ve always wanted to visit India. Indian is my favourite kind of food (I love lamb vindalu), I love the music and have made incredible friends from here. We won’t have much time on our visit, but we’re looking forward to an incredible musical conversation with the Bengaluru blues family!” says Jennifer, who loves to dance, meditate and lose herself in films. Like her, her band mates seem to be an interesting lot as well. “Pascal’s ancestors were from India, he plays soccer and although he loves people, he’s incredibly shy. And oh! He had a pet cow when he was a boy,” reveals Jennifer who had a pony named Donut Dandy herself. “Thomas Troussier is an archer who loves the outdoors. He also loves fish, throwing darts and Vietnamese food just as much,” she says, as they get set to pack their bags for a tour to the USA after it’s a wrap in city.

At the end of the day, all that they want is for their blues with a spirit of full hope and joy, to inspire people and get them to get up and boogie. “It’s healing,” says Red.